Siku Quanshu
The Siku Quanshu (the Complete Library of the Four Branches of Literature) was a large book collection compiled in the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911), covering a time span of over 2,000 years from pre-Qin period to Qianlong Emperor's reign. The compilation was personally supervised by Qianlong Emperor (1711-1799). More than 360 renowned scholars and officials, including the famous scholar Ji Yun, were involved in compiling and editing the works and another 4,200 scholars participated in transcription. The project took 15 years to complete (1773-1787). The collection contains over 3,500 important works, with a total of 79,300 manuscript rolls in 36,000 volumes, and about 800 million characters. It is the largest collection of books in ancient China.
The collection is divided into four parts according to the ancient Chinese book classification convention: Classics, His- tory, Works by Renowned Scholars, and Anthologies. Hence, it is called the Complete Library of the Four Branches of Literature. The Classics branch contains Confucian classics and related works; the History section features history books; classified under Works by Renowned Scholars are works of various schools of thought; and the Anthologies section includes collections of poetry, prose, and other literary works. The covers of the four sections are in green, red, blue, and taupe respectively, following the order of the seasons — spring, summer, autumn and winter — for ease of reference. To better preserve and disseminate these classics, seven extra copies were made and stored in libraries across China. Only four of these copies- those stored in the Wenyuan Ge (in the Palace Museum), the Wenjin Ge (in the Chengde Mountain Resort), the Wensu Ge (in Shenyang Imperial Palace) and the Wenlan Ge (the Imperial Library in Hangzhou) - have survived years of vicissitude.
The Siku Quanshu contains an enormous number of ancient texts, covering philosophy, history, culture and art, politics, society, the economy, military affairs, law, medicine, astronomy, arithmetic, biology, agriculture, and divination. It presents China's ancient culture in a systematic way, as an important window into traditional Chinese culture.
《四库全书》
《四库全书》是清代编修的一部大型丛书，由清乾隆皇帝（1711—1799）亲自主持，纪昀等著名学者、官员360 余人负责编撰，近4200人抄写， 前后历时15年（1773— 1787）完成。全书收录了先秦时期至清代乾隆以前2000 多年间的重要典籍3500余种，共计79300余卷、36000余册，约8亿字，是中国古代规模最大的丛书。
全书按照中国古代图书分类法分为经、史、子、集四部，故称“四库”。经部收录儒家经典及相关著作，史部收录历史类书籍，子部收录诸子百家相关学术著作，集部收录诗文词总集和专集等。全书封面按照春、夏、秋、冬四季的顺序标明书的类别，分绿、红、蓝、灰褐四色装潢书册封面， 以便于检阅。为便于保存和传播典籍，全书编成后又誊抄7部，分别收藏于中国各地藏书阁。历经历史沧桑，全书现仅存文渊阁本、文津阁本、文溯阁本、文澜阁本四部全本。
《四库全书》保存了大量古代文献，内容覆盖哲学、历史、文艺、政治、社会、经济、军事、法律、医学、天文、地理、算学、生物学、农业、占卜等，系统呈现了中国古典文化的知识体系，是研究中国传统文化的重要文献。
